May 2008 Issue
Council Briefs
APEGGA Addresses Low Geoscience Licensure Percentages
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OFFICIAL GOODBYE |
The PEGG compiled the following items from the final APEGGA Council meeting of the 2007-2008 term, held April 18 in Edmonton in conjunction with the Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting. Next meeting is June 19 in Edmonton.
APEGGA must “pick up the pace” in combating an unacceptably low licensure rate of geoscientists, says the Geoscience Committee. It presented Council with a list of action items to help improve APEGGA’s self-regulatory duty to the public in geoscience.
“It is unacceptable to have only 53 per cent of practicing geophysicists and 65 per cent of practicing geologists licensed with APEGGA,” says the committee’s report to Council. The figures come from a recent survey of permit holders by the Association.
“With a target of 100 per cent compliance, we have a long way to go,” the committee report says. “Although the resolution of this issue is a long-term proposition, it needs to be seen that APEGGA is picking up the pace and enforcing the Engineering, Geological and Geophysical Professions Act.”
The action items cover
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Publishing a strong message in The PEGG and other publications — including the geoscience industry’s Reservoir and Recorder — that puts “the community on notice that improvement is expected.”
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Developing lists of corporations for direct contact by APEGGA over the next two months, six months, one year and three years, and beginning the meetings. Some of these meetings will be with the top 30 corporations and involve senior APEGGA management.
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Developing advertising and articles supporting the initiative for ongoing use.
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Partnering with the geoscience community in various events, including the joint convention of the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists, the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, and the Canadian Well Logging Society.
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Reviewing a compliance policy that allows non-members to practice provided they are supervised, and looking at the use of practice reviews to improve compliance.
Voting Percentage Down
If members do prefer electronic over paper voting, they didn’t prove it when it came time to make their choices. Results of the 2008 APEGGA Election and special ballot reveal that fewer than 10 per cent of eligible members took part in voting this year.
The APEGGA election typically attracts 15 per cent or more of the Association electorate. Council and staff had hoped switching from paper-and-post to a predominantly Internet-based system would attract a higher percentage of voting than usual. Instead, the regular election attracted 9.9 per cent of the electorate, and special ballot questions on member-in-training rights and creating a new geoscience designation only 9.2 per cent.
Council decided to strike a task force immediately to find out what might have caused the low level of interest — and come up with a plan to increase the voting percentage next year.
APEGGA to Examine
Construction Supervision
Contractors’ construction work that requires supervision by professional engineers isn’t always getting it, the APEGGA Executive Committee says. The committee has asked the APEGGA Professional Practice Department to have a closer look at the concern, by checking with various Alberta industry boards and committees, and then reporting back.
This could be an opportunity for APEGGA to take a national leadership role. “This is not a problem that’s peculiar to Alberta,” said Executive Director & Registrar Neil Windsor, P.Eng. “We believe it’s a problem right across the country.”
Fewer In Camera
Sessions Ahead
APEGGA statutory committees often deal with confidential information, so the practice has been to go in camera, or outside the public eye, when Council discusses some reports. In order to make meetings more efficient, however, Council will now go in camera only when the nature of discussions makes
it necessary.
Agenda packages for observers and The PEGG do not contain names, so confidentiality is already preserved, the Governance Committee noted in making the recommendation.
The Governance Committee reports on ways to improve Council meetings, based on feedback from staff and Council and its own observations. It addresses everything from how motions are worded to the “sidebar discussions” that sometimes disrupt meetings.
Funding Decided For Initiatives Of Engineers Canada
Two profession-boosting, national initiatives counting on APEGGA’s support received preliminary nods from Council in February. Now, Council has the actual funding trail in place for the Engineers Canada requests.
The Promoting the Professions Communications Strategy needs $112,285 from APEGGA in 2008. Council heard that $50,000 will come from areas of the Communications Department budget deemed redundant because of the national campaign. The remainder will be an unbudgeted expenditure, which is within a discretionary limit assigned to the Executive Director and will be accommodated within the existing budget.
Designed to complement communications efforts of Engineers Canada constituent associations, the campaign will first focus on parents and employers as it works on strengthening the P.Eng. brand across the country.
APEGGA also plans to put $83,000 towards the 2009 Engineering Summit, which the Canadian Engineering Leadership Forum is putting on from May 18 to 20, 2009, in Montreal.
The summit will be a high-level, high-profile, internationally promoted conference, Engineers Canada says. It will provide a venue for the engineering profession to look at ways to better serve society.
Within the Canadian Engineering Leadership Forum’s membership are Engineers Canada, the Association of Canadian Engineering Companies, the Engineering Institute of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students, and the National Council of Deans of Engineering and Science.
Engineers Canada is the business name of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers. It is the national organization of the 12 provincial and territorial associations that regulate the practice of engineering in Canada and license the country’s more than 170,000 professional engineers.
Membership Management
Improvements to Begin
The first phase of a significantly improved system for managing membership data is on schedule to roll out in July, Council heard. The new information system, called the Member Management System, will eventually allow a new level of self-service and e-commerce through the APEGGA website for members. It will also be more user friendly and improve staff effectiveness in all aspects of APEGGA business, from the licensure process to registering for an APEGGA event.
Canadian partner ProserveIT will lead implementation of the Aptify system. Phase 1 involves configuration and the migration of data from the old system to the new one. Enhancements and business process automation will follow in the second phase of the implementation.
President Praises
Summit Awards Gala
Outgoing President John McLeod, P.Eng., made a special point of praising staff for the success of this year’s Summit Awards. APEGGA staff members did an “astounding job” in putting on the awards, he said.
“You’ve set a standard that’s going to be very difficult to follow up in the future,” Mr. McLeod said. “It was an incredible event.”
APEGGA sold 830 tickets to the gala at the Edmonton Shaw Centre’s spectacular Hall D, which overlooks the city’s River Valley. Among highlights was the presentation of the Association’s premiere Summit Award, the Centennial, to energy industry mogul and philanthropist Clay Riddell, P.Geol.
Mr. McLeod received a fashion statement in the vesting ceremony, a tradition going back to 1955 and the presidency of the late Chick Thorssen, P.Eng. During a Council meeting, Mr. Thorssen apparently poked fun at two other members over their colourful vests. When he asked at his final Council meeting if there was any new business, the duo seized Mr. Thorssen and proceeded to dress him in a vibrant vest of his own.
Honoured with a special award on the 50th anniversary of his 1958 presidency was Dr. George Govier, P.Eng. Special acknowledgement also went out to Cathy Armstrong, general services supervisor, for 40 years of service to APEGGA as a staff member.
Child prodigy Harris Wang, 12, of Edmonton played piano for guests.
Education Foundation
Refocusing Continues
The APEGGA Education Foundation received the go-ahead to reorganize and change its portfolio of scholarships, and to increase its independence. The moves come as the foundation joins forces with the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta to make the most of donations, while it reinvents itself in preparation for a time when APEGGA no longer gives it direct funding.
In 2006 Council approved a plan to gradually decrease the APEGGA annual contribution to nothing over an eight-year period. The thinking was that the foundation should stand on its own feet for fundraising, and that the Association shouldn’t make charitable donations on behalf of members.
Watch for a full story on the foundation’s new focus in the June PEGG.